Coupled Mode Flutter of a Linear Compressor Cascade in Subsonic and Transonic Flow Conditions

Abstract

Flutter onset in turbomachinery is typically investigated numerically via decoupled methods due to a high mass ratio of structure to air. The unsteady aerodynamic response of a forced motion vibration is evaluated for a positive or negative work entry. The forced motion simulations assume vacuum mode shape vibrations at certain amplitudes without modal coupling due to aerodynamic forces. This approach, also known as the energy method, is valid for a high blade mass ratio and small logarithmic decrement values. An aeroelastic study of a multi-passage linear compressor cascade was performed. In fluid-structure-coupled time-marching CFD, generic heave and pitch degrees of freedom are allowed to vibrate freely in reaction to any aerodynamic forces. For one subsonic and one transonic flow condition predicted to be stable by the classical energy method approach, aerodynamically coupled-mode flutter is observed. It is shown that variations in the starting conditions, i.e. the initial vibration and inter-blade phase angle of the system, can have a strong influence on the number of CFD iterations required until amplitudes grow. However, if coupled-mode flutter is present in the system, it will ultimately set in at a distinct inter-blade phase angle.